What’s our destination? I’m so glad you asked! Our first planned stop will be Chicago where we’re going to spend the night with my wonderful friend Steff Bomb and then we’re getting right back on the road for our main destination: Wisconsin.

I know what you’re thinking, “What in god’s name is there in Wisconsin that you NEED to take a road trip to see?” Two things: the Hamilton Wood Type Museum and the Forevertron.

I think my obsession with printing, typography, and design is pretty evident, so I imagine I don’t have to explain the first stop on our trip. And my little sister is a trooper, bless her heart, so she’s just tagging along for this part, which I imagine will bore her to tears. I’m excited to get a chance to look at things like this:

I’m getting way excited just thinking about it!

Our second stop {the Forevertron} is something I’ve been talking about wanting to do for the last 4 years and I am so incredibly thrilled about finally getting to go that it’s killing me. From the Wikipedia page: According to Every {the creator of the Forevertron}, Dr. Evermor is a fictional Victorian inventor who designed the Forevertron to launch himself “into the heaven on a magnetic lightning force beam.”

Um, YES PLEASE. I mean, how can I resist checking out something that looks like this?

It’s just so insanely beautiful that I absolutely must see it for myself . And take a million pictures.

After that it’s back to Chicago for a day or two. Suggestions for things to do are greatly appreciated, as I’ve only been there once and I was 11 at the time. From there it’s on to visit with our aunt in Pasadena, Maryland and then back to Philly where we’ll FINALLY get our matching sister tattoos! Keep your eyes peeled for updates from the road next week!

So when I started Philly Chap Book I knew it was going to be hard for me to actually keep up with it. Even if I do have lots of really great stories to tell, I knew that without some kind of incentive I wasn’t going to be able to produce. And, of course, I didn’t. I rarely keep up with this blog. LJ is easy for me because I’ve been doing it for 6 years and there are people that I’ve built relationships with here, and I can be really open because I can friend lock entries if I want to.

Anyway, I’m getting off track. So I let Philly Chap Book lapse. And it didn’t really matter because no one was reading it anyway. But on Saturday I got an email from the editor of Shmitten Kitten asking me if I’d like to start contributing on a regular basis.

Now, let me back up. Shmitten Kitten is a dating blog filled with hilarious stories by a couple of Philly girls like myself. You know, ladies who have terrible luck with dudes and decide to turn it all into one big laugh fest. The blog popped on to my radar soon after I’d registered the blogger name for Philly Chap Book, received some popularity, and has been in my RSS reader ever since. I attained a little bit of Shmitten Kitten fame a little over a week ago {in case it isn’t clear, that dude is writing about little old me} and of course had to send in my response.

It was that little exchange that put me on Anna’s radar and led her to ask me to be a contributor! I got a list of some of the upcoming topics and told to write whatever I’d like, save it as a blogger draft, let her edit it and then post. It’s pretty awesome and while it’s currently an unpaid gig {as if I care!} there is talk of paying in the future. Personally I’m just excited to be writing for something that actually gets some hits. Plus it’s witty and exactly what I like doing best: telling embarrassing stories about myself and the people I’ve gone on dates with.

I’d love it if you guys would put us in your RSS readers, subscribe to the blog via email, bookmark it, etc! The more feedback the better!

Oh, and here’s the link to my first official contribution on my First Date Ever.